ABSTRACT

Research at the Selin Farm site in northeastern Honduras examined changing cultural landscapes in a region whose prehistory is poorly understood. Low-impact field methods and radiocarbon dates reveal how this cultural landscape changed in response to shifting priorities among its inhabitants from a.d. 300–1000. We found evidence for rapid accumulation of deposits beginning around a.d. 600, when the site nearly doubled in size over the span of just decades, before retracting again within a few centuries. Although it was caught up in some of the broader social and political changes that began around a.d. 600 throughout northern Honduras and southern Mesoamerica, the longevity of this site suggests stability of the cultural and ecological systems in which it was embedded until the final centuries of occupation. Well-preserved, long-term deposits make Selin Farm an ideal location in which to explore entangled processes of environmental and social change in the little-known small-scale societies of Central America.

摘要

在洪都拉斯东北部的塞林农场遗址进行的研究考察了一个史前史知之甚少的地区不断变化的文化景观。低影响实地方法和放射性碳测年法揭示了这种文化景观如何随着其居民从公元300 年到公元 1000年不断变化的优先事项而发生变化。我们发现了从公元 600 年左右开始迅速积累沉积物的证据，当时该遗址的面积在短短几十年内几乎翻了一番，然后在几个世纪内再次收缩。尽管它卷入了围绕广告开始的一些更广泛的社会和政治变革600 年遍及洪都拉斯北部和中美洲南部，该遗址的悠久历史表明它所嵌入的文化和生态系统在占领的最后几个世纪之前一直保持稳定。保存完好的长期沉积物使塞林农场成为探索中美洲鲜为人知的小规模社会中环境和社会变化的复杂过程的理想场所。